Author specializes in the trials and tribulations of middle-schoolers

Chris Bergeron

Thursday

Jan 28, 2010 at 12:01 AMJan 28, 2010 at 4:00 AM

Growing up all over the country, Erin Dionne knew how it felt to get picked on and teased as the new kid trying to fit into school. Now, Dionne is celebrating the publication of her second novel for young readers, "The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet," tonight at 7 at The Center for Arts in Natick.

Growing up all over the country, Erin Dionne knew how it felt to get picked on and teased as the new kid trying to fit into school.

If that didn't make childhood stink, she had to wear a "horrible peach-colored dress" as a 12-year-old bridesmaid at her cousin's wedding.

Now a new mom with a baby daughter and a college teaching job, the Framingham author has channeled those icky adolescent memories into novels for 'tweens going through what she did.

Dionne will celebrate publication of her second novel for young readers, "The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet," today at 7 p.m. at the Center for Arts in Natick.

"I wanted to celebrate my novel as a community experience," she said Monday. "And I want to thank friends who've supported me and thank people at Morse Institute Library where I can write in peace."

At the Good Reads Web site, which tracks fiction for young readers, Dionne's two novels have averaged four-star reviews out of a possible five stars.

Of her newest book, a reader named Rachel wrote: "This is one solid book. I loved it. Five stars, hands down. I will not only allow my girls to read it when they reach junior high but I will hand it to them."

Another reader who identified herself as Bronwyn Parhad also gave it five stars and wrote, "I find the main character Celeste to be wonderfully real, poignant and funny."

Like the characters in her books, Dionne has taken a long, circuitous path to achieve success and happiness.

After high school, she majored in English at Boston College and then earned a master's of fine arts in creative writing at Emerson College. While working in publishing and magazine writing for several years, she never abandoned her dream of writing children's fiction.

She joined the faculty of Montserrat College of Art in Beverly. As an assistant professor in the liberal arts department, she teaches composition, literature and creative writing.

After four years of writing and revision, Dionne published her first novel, "Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies," in February 2009. It began as an award-winning short story about a heavy girl trying to overcome a poor self-image.

She remembered, "I was driving to Beverly when I got this image of an overweight girl eating alone in the cafeteria. I drove home trying to think who she was," she said. Dionne's epiphany of a chubby girl's solitude grew into her first published novel which led to a two-book contract with Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Books.

She is married to Frank Colagiovanni, a freelance copywriter. Their daughter, Charlotte Poe, was born in May 2008, a month after Dionne finished her first novel.

Now 34, Dionne has found her "natural voice" writing for "middle grade" readers from 9 to 12 and young adults, 12 and up.

"My theory is all writers have a voice and a time when they're most comfortable. I'm most comfortable in the eighth grade," she said. "It's the voice I feel most comfortable with and it's the stories I want to tell."

With her father in the high-tech business, Dionne grew up all over the U.S., moving from Rhode Island where she was born, to Walpole, New York, southern and then northern California in Laguna Hills and Los Altos.

She learned to read at age 4 and growing up found the comfort and confidence "to survive junior high" in novels about Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and Dr. Seuss's menagerie of wild characters.

Dionne recalled, "I just loved to read. As a child, I didn't think of anything else. To me, the idea of writing stories just seemed like the best job."

She aims "never to write down" to her young readers or "gloss over" or "shy away" from the knotty complexities of adolescence.

"As a former kid myself, I think kids often don't know how to deal with their own lives. They can do it vicariously through my novels," said Dionne.

While working on another book to be published later this year, she described her novels as "a way for kids to process and deal with experiences they haven't had yet."

"If I set out to write a book with a 'moral,' I think it'd feel stilted to kids. For me, books are always about character. I start with a character and try to figure out who it is," she said. "I'm not a plotter. I see where my character is going and let it happen. Hopefully, the character grows and learns something. And, hopefully, my readers will too."

THE ESSENTIALS

To learn about The Center for Arts in Natick, 14 Summer St., call 508-647-0097 or visit www.natickarts.org.

Erin Dionne will discuss her books and sign copies tonight at 7 p.m. at The Center for Arts in Natick, and on Friday, Feb. 19, at 1 p.m. at Barnes & Noble in Burlington. Her books are available at Barnes & Noble, Borders Bookstore, Amazon.com or wherever books are sold.

To learn more about Dionne or order her books, visit www.erindionne.com.

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